The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) commends President John Dramani Mahama for his intervention to halt the revocation of frequency authorisation of 64 radio stations across the country for various regulatory breaches.
According to the National Communications Authority (NCA), the radio stations facing sanction had committed sins, including failure to renew authorisation, operating without valid authorisation, exceeding permitted transmission and non-payment of authorisation fees.
However, as the NCA took steps to shut down the defaulting stations, President Mahama shot down the moves, directing the Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation to liaise with the NCA to stop the action, thus bringing down mounting tension in the industry.
The GJA believes shutting down 64 radio stations regardless of their infractions would have ruptured the electronic media industry, with dire social and economic consequences, including loss of thousands of jobs and denial of critical public services rendered by the stations.
Further, we agree with the President that shutting down the radio stations may seriously undermine media freedom and freedom of expression.
We, therefore, commend President Mahama for tempering regulatory enforcement with clemency in this instance, acknowledging that his intervention sends a good signal that the government is responsive to concerns for media freedom and is committed to fostering media pluralism and diversity.
We encourage the affected radio stations to use the moratorium extended to them to fulfill all righteousness as far as regulatory compliance is concerned in order to avoid subsequent closure.
The GJA does not condone illegality of any kind but we share the President’s view that regulatory compliance must accommodate the need to uphold and enhance media freedom.
While recognising the importance of regulatory compliance in ensuring a responsible media landscape, the GJA reiterates its consistent call for approaches that do not stifle the flow of information or unduly penalise media houses.Â
We, therefore, call for more and extensive dialogue between the regulator and stakeholders in the industry so that in the pursuit of operational fidelity, we do not cut our nose to spite our face.
The GJA also urges fairness and transparency to attend the enforcement of regulatory compliance and in that regard, we call on the NCA to publish the standing of all radio and television stations, including dates of their regulatory compliance, as well as the owners of those stations.
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